In the manufacturing of business forms, it is often desirable to produce a form that contains a hang tag that can be removed and suspended from another surface. For example, the Department of Motor Vehicles for a state may need a mailable form that contains a disabled or handicap parking permit, which can be removed from the form and suspended from a recipient's rear view mirror in his automobile.
Typically, hang tag forms are separately manufactured and mailed to a recipient in an envelope such as, for example a No. 10 envelope, along with an informational or instructional letter from the sender. Mailing an envelope filled with a hang tag and an instructional letter increases the weight of the mailing, which increases the costs associated with mailing the package, as compared to mailing a postcard or an integrated form. Indeed, postal rates for first class mailing differ substantially between letters and postcards. For non-automation mailings, the difference in rates between a regular-size envelope and a regular-size postcard is $0.15.
In addition, hang tags are typically laminated to increase the durability of the hang tag and prolong its useful life. Typical laminates used to protect hang tags include a certain percentage of silicon. However, a silicon-based laminate is unable to support printing, such as laser printing, on the top of the laminated surface. Consequently, with some known laminated tags, any information or images have to be included or applied prior to the lamination process.